‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Suspeded Indefinitely after Host’s Charlie Kirk Comment
Disney’s ABC would take Jimmy Kimmel‘s popular late-night show off its schedule “indefinitely” after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the U.S., Nexstar Media, said it intended to pre-empt airings of program following remarks the host made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Nexstar said Wednesday that it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said. He also poked fun at President Trump’s response to a question from the press about how he was mourning Kirk’s death after Trump pivoted to a discussion of the construction of a new White House ballroom.
Disney’s maneuver is likely to further inflame American partisanship over the assassination of Kirk. The activist is viewed as a hero by many, and several prominent conservatives have called for any critic of his work to be silenced, no matter how nuanced the argument may be. Some liberals have taken issue with Kirk’s stances, pointing out extreme stances he has taken.
Nexstar’s decision to pre-empt “Kimmel” would have significant ramifications for Disney and ABC. Nexstar owns or operates 32 different ABC stations, and is strong in markets including New Orleans, Salt Lake City and Nashville. Without true national distribution, ratings for “Kimmel” would sink and ABC would have a tough time justifying the show’s current prices to advertisers. ABC generated approximately $76.6 million in advertising from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in 2024, according to iSpot TV, a tracker of TV audiences and ad spending.
Disney’s decision to take Kimmel off the air also spotlights how frightened traditional media companies have become in an era when the White House and the Federal Communications Commission pounce on individual reports with comments and legal pushback. President Trump has in recent months sued both ABC News and CBS News for comments made by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos and the editing of an interview with former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on “60 Minutes.” In both cases, the companies agreed to pay multi-million dollar settlements, even though the legal cases were deemed to be quite flimsy by experts.
In recent years, however, hot talk and political humor drive social-media chatter and viral pass-along — and ratings. Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” on CBS has been the most watched of TV’s late-night programs as the host followed a theme of commenting on the latest headlines. For a good part of Colbert’s tenure on TV, President Trump has been at the center of them.
Paramount is getting out of the late-night business, and is canceling Colbert’s “Late Show” in May. While the company cited a downturn in advertising, there continue to be suspicions that Paramount’s new leader, David Ellison, wants to tamp down political sniping and is eager to cater to a more conservative base.
Disney has navigated these waters in the past. In 2001, Bill Maher told viewers during an episode of a different late-night program, “Politically Incorrect,” that America had been “cowardly” in dealing with the rest of the world and that could have been a factor in the terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center that year. ABC kept the show on air, but advertisers began to balk. “Politically Incorrect” was cancelled in June of 2002, and Maher would find success later with a new program, “Real Time” on HBO.
